If there’s one piece of information that truly underscores what the results of the Iowa caucuses mean, it’s that both Democratic and Republican candidates for president will likely be engaged in a marathon – not a sprint – to their respective nominations.

Iowa blew both races wide open. Here’s how:

The longstanding, once-inevitable Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, just a few months ago was presumed to have all but locked up the nomination. Following her entrance into the race, she led by roughly 50 points nationally and by a substantial margin in key early states like Iowa and New Hampshire. These first few states weren’t ever supposed to be competitive. In fact, they ostensibly were just representing the first few steps to Clinton’s coronation as the nominee.

Then, something happened.

A political earthquake erupted in the form of Bernie Sanders. A candidate who is the embodiment of anything but conventional. He’s a gritty, democratic socialist, and his message of transformation and calls for political revolution clearly took Iowa and the nation by storm. At a time when Americans have increasingly been turned off by empty promises from politicians in Washington, gridlock and seemingly endless political crises, Sanders’ “virtual tie” with Clinton served as a vindication for his campaign. It validated his message of changing the status quo, taking on the establishment, and it gave birth to some renewed credibility for him on a national scale.

Now, it’s possible Sanders could really be a contender for the Democratic nomination.

On the other side of the aisle, Ted Cruz, of course, had a triumphant night. He proved that the presumed Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, is beatable, and that the perceived Teflon surrounding his candidacy can be penetrated.

Because just days before the caucus, arguably the most trusted Iowa poll, conducted by the Des Moines Register and Bloomberg, put the race at 28 percent Trump, Cruz at 23 percent (just outside the margin of error), and Rubio at 15 percent. Rubio’s jump from 15 percent to just one point behind Trump, at 23 percent, stunned nearly every political observer who has been watching this race closely. Everyone assumed Rubio would be in third, but nobody thought he would be so close to Trump.

The results of caucus night produced a newly reconfigured dynamic, and essentially a tied three-way race. What will be important to watch moving forward, however, is whether Rubio capitalizes on his newfound momentum and is able to further consolidate establishment support – endorsements from other establishment candidates, big establishment donors, Super PAC air support, and establishment infrastructure assistance and key staff.

With all that said, there’s no doubt the Iowa win was big for Cruz. The question is, will he now be in a position to suck up more oxygen in the New Hampshire race and eat further into Trump’s lead? And, can he cut into Trump’s sizable lead in South Carolina and start locking down more robust support in all the Southern states, as well as Super Tuesday in early March.

As for Trump, questions about whether he will actually put his money where his mouth is will be raised. After saying he was willing to spend $1 billion of his own money on his campaign, he ended up spending the least of all the top finishing candidates in Iowa. One could only guess whether or not he would have placed first had he matched his rivals dollar-for-dollar in Iowa.

Regardless of what happened in Iowa, anything can happen between now and the first primary, Tuesday in New Hampshire.

The state has historically been known as “Clinton Country,” coining President Bill Clinton as the “Comeback Kid” in 1992 after his upset second-place finish. It also saved Hillary Clinton’s early 2008 campaign after she lost to Barack Obama in Iowa. On the Republican side, New Hampshire was the state that saved John McCain’s deflating 2008 campaign and ultimately launched him to the Republican nomination.

With so much fluidity and possibility for all the candidates competing in the state, it’ll be interesting to watch and see who wins, but also equality as important, who loses, in the Granite State.

Dave Jacobson is a Democratic strategist and campaign consultant with Shallman Communications.

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